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Category Archives: Joash

The same spirit driving our giving today motivated the Israelites’ giving in the days of Joash. He launched a project to restore the temple, which had fallen into disrepair. Athaliah had actually taken articles from it and used them for Baal worship. Though Jehoiada and the Levites were slow to act, the people themselves were ripe to return to the Lord. They demonstrated their changed hearts by filling the box at the temple door with their gifts again and again. Workers were immediately hired to do the construction and refurbishing—they were men of integrity, since they honestly reported a financial surplus after the work was finished.

Unfortunately, Joash’s godliness was explicitly linked to the influence of Jehoiada. When his mentor died, the king was unable to stand for righteousness by himself. Did he depend too much on the priest? Or did Jehoiada keep him on too short a leash, never really developing his leadership skills? What was going on behind the scenes at the start of the temple restoration? We’re left with many unanswered questions. One thing we know is that Joash succumbed to pride. He then fell into idolatry, ignored a warning from God, and experienced judgments, a pattern we’ve seen before. Worst of all, he arranged for the murder of Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah—this event triggered Joash’s assassination, showing that God’s justice cannot be forestalled. Tellingly, Jehoiada was buried with the kings; Joash was not.